Portokalopita (Greek orange filo cake)

Portokalopita is a deliciously different cake, and a must-try for anyone who is afraid of filo. Why? Because here the filo is shredded to bits - the messier the better! The gorgeous orange and cinnamon syrup ensures this cake stays beautifully moist.

Remove the filo from its packaging. Take each sheet and roughly tear into shreds, using your hands. Tear the filo directly into the baking tin, and leave to dry a little while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Cut one orange in half, and slice that half into very thin half-moons to garnish the cake. Zest and juice the remaining oranges.

Combine the orange juice, zest, eggs, yoghurt, olive oil, 100g sugar and baking powder in a bowl, blender or food processor. Blend together on high speed for a couple of minutes, till the mixture is frothy.

Pour the orange and egg mixture over the filo in the baking tin. Stir together gently, right in the tin, to ensure the egg mixture is evenly distributed. Decorate the top of the cake with the thinly sliced oranges.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until the top is golden and the filling set. Once out of the oven, immediately pour the cooled syrup over the hot cake. Set aside for at least 1 hour, till most of the syrup has soaked in. Slice and serve!

Tips

Ensure that you get the wet mixture evenly distributed throughout the filo sheets; if you don't, you may end up with some doughy spots throughout the cake. To make this easier to avoid, be sure to dry the shredded filo sufficiently before adding the wet mixture.
When pouring the syrup over the cake, ensure you pour cool syrup over the hot cake (not hot syrup over hot cake). You can use a ladle to slowly pour it over, letting it soak in between each pour.